MySpace Song Ripper On a related note, tonight I visited my favourite myspace ripping tool, File2HD.com and noticed that they now support ripping Original Version (High Quality) mp3s... yessss!
More Music I Like If you like this sort of music or even if you don't, here are some other songs that I am really enjoying at the moment:
A few weeks ago I was talking with a friend who is always up on good comedy and I asked him if he had found any good "tv show comedies" lately. He told me about this show called, "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!". He explained a few of the skits and they seemed funny. On Thursday my brother bookmarked a website in delicious about this show which reminded me that I needed to check it out.
I have just finished watching all of Season 1 of "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!". It is such a good show.
Synopsis "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!" is a surreal sketch show created by Tim Heidecker [wp][pw][gi][imdb] and Eric Wareheim [wp][pw][gi][imdb]. The show consists of sketches, songs, and mock commercials. The Wikipedia entry for "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!" lists Andy Kaufman and Monty Python as a major influence on the comedy of Tim and Eric, their humour is comparatively offbeat and surreal.
Each episode goes for roughly eleven and a half minutes (11:30).
Here she comes
The show premiered February 11, 2007. Stylistically, the show has been created to look like a late 80's/early 90's production. The graphics, audio, fashion, make-up and subject matter all hark to former years. The graphics are reminiscent of the (now outdated) instructional/educational videos that they showed (still show?) in schools. Video transitions popular in these decades give the show a great DIY feel with accompanying music and soundscapes popular in the same decades. A lot of the sketches spoof public access televisions' poor quality and often emotionless dialogue of its participants.
One sketch is a commercial where a family is listening to (and highly enjoying) midi files being played by the father on an old computer. MIDI file based sketch! brilliant! I found this sketch on youtube, it is show here in this video following a sketch about "sports".
I talk in my sleep. Last night, to my absolute horror at the time I had 2 dreams in a row where my macbook pro was destroyed. In the first dream I dropped it, smashed the screen and bent the case, in the second I came back to my parents home and I found my macbook pro had been scratched with a compass all over the case and the insides by my sister, to the point of being destroyed. Very unsettling dreams. In the morning I was telling Sara about them and she mentioned that I was sleep-talking too as I often do.
Today I decided to look up "sleep-talking" on wikipedia to learn more about it. I found out that sleep-talking is very common and is reported in 50% of young children, with most of them outgrowing it by puberty, although it may persist into adulthood (about 5% of adults are reported to talk in their sleep). It appears to run in families.
While browsing the wikipedia page I noticed this line about a famous sleep talker and was intrigued.
One famous sleep talker is Dion McGregor, a man who became something of an underground celebrity when his roommate Michael Barr recorded his nightly soliloquies (which were often hilariously detailed), which were then released as a series of albums in the 60's.
This would be sooo great to hear I thought and googled his name and found a myspace page for him here, yesss!
Dion McGregor - look at this picture as you listen to his sleep-talking
I listened to this first recording, "The Food And What to do with it" and LOVED it! In this recording he tells someone to get various fruits, prepare them and then RAM THEM UP THEIR ASS! His pitch and tone is captivating, he is often mean. Sometimes he laughs like a lunatic. While listening to the recordings I picture the scenes as he narrates what is happening.
The Food And What To Do With It - Lyrics Brown that banana Brown it Brown it Crust it all over with sugar Dip it in the sugar pot Dip it in the sugar pot Okay, now bend over and ram it up your ass That's right Okay Cut that grapefruit in half Cut that grapefruit in half Alright Sprinkle it lightly with sugar Okay, now lean back and ram it up your cunt! Take that honeydew melon Slice it from stem to stern Salt it a little bit Stick it down in your tits Take that dish of strawberries Put a few drops of cream in it Alrighty Pour it over her head Take that huckleberry pie Heat it in the oven Stick it on a plate Mash it in his face Take that mango Cool it Peel it Jam it up your ass Look at that red rug on the floor Oh, little dog dancing Puddles here and there Puddles here and there Look out pussycat It's a pussy It's a pussy Do turkeys have tits?
All lyrics from this "The Dream World of Dion McGregor (He Talks In His Sleep)" here.
Another, more manically narrated sleep-talk is this one, "Don't Break The Mailman".
Dion McGregor (1922–1994) was a New York City-born songwriter, whose main claim to fame is that he was a voluble dreamer, or somniloquist.
As a songwriter, McGregor's biggest success came when his song "Where Is The Wonder" (cowritten with roommate Michael Barr) was recorded by Barbra Streisand on her hit album My Name Is Barbra (1965). He was unable to find much success afterwards, however, and by the 1980's had given up on songwriting. Critic Joslyn Layne writes that "Despite his lack of success as a song lyricist, McGregor's narration of his vivid dreamlife provided a more unique artistic contribution than any usually recorded."
McGregor talked in his sleep. Not in quiet, barely-comprehensible mumbles: while he slept, McGregor would essentially narrate his dreams at conversational volume. As a narrator of his (often terrifying) dreams, Dion adopted various personas but frequently established a fey, argumentative, insolent approach to the subject at hand – be it a hot air balloon trip to the moon with a group of multi-ethnic children, a frantic journey around New York, or a tattooing job on a woman's tongue. As Phil Milstein notes, the Tzadik LP could just as well be called Dion McGregor Screams Again, as most of McGregor's dream narratives end with him shrieking in terror.
An LP of his dream diatribes – The Dream World Of Dion McGregor (He Talks In His Sleep) – was even released to minor acclaim by Decca Records in 1964. A book of the same name, containing the transcripts of a wider selection of McGregor's dreams, and with illustrations by Edward Gorey, was also published in 1964.
McGregor died in 1994, but researcher Phil Milstein gathered recordings of McGregor's dream-speech considered too risque to be released in the 1960s and assembled them for the 1999 album, Dion McGregor Dreams Again, released on Tzadik Records. A third album, The Further Somniloquies of Dion McGregor: More Outrageous Recordings of the World's Most Renowned Sleeptalker was assembled by Toronto poet Steve Venright and released in August 2004 on the Torpor Vigil Industries label.
Some more web searches returned more interesting information about him:
Dion McGregor was a homeless gay bohemian from NY. He wanted to be a songwriter for Broadway musicals, and while waiting for his big break in show business, he couch-surfed with his friends, lovers, and acquaintances. One of his hosts was fascinated with Dion's habit of talking in his sleep and attempted to document it. You can hear New York street noises in the background of his recordings, as he slept by an open window.
I really, really want to here his 1999 album, "Dion McGregor Dreams Again" and his third album, "The Further Somniloquies of Dion McGregor: More Outrageous Recordings of the World's Most Renowned Sleeptalker". I imagine they would be incredibly dirty. So if anyone has these albums, could I please get them from you?
Tonight a middle-aged man got on the bus I was on, he had grey hair and was wearing a loose-fitting white t-shirt. For some reason it did not seem right. Then I began to think about another older man who I used to work with and how whenever he would wear a t-shirt, I would find it off putting. When I say "middle-aged" I am referring to ages 45-70, so middle-aged plus a decade or so. The man on the bus would have been anywhere from 50-60.
I don't know why it unsettles me so much to see a middle-aged man in a t-shirt (especially an ill-fitting t-shirt). I have the impression that a man comes to a certain age when it is only acceptable to go out in public in a shirt or polo top. A shirt or polo is dignified and respectable. Whenever I wear a dress shirt I feel great and confident, so when I reach the age when I farewell the t-shirt from my daily out of home attire: I will welcome it with open arms.
On the bus tonight I was trying to pin-point why seeing this middle-aged man in a plain white t-shirt made me feel so weird. I was doing that thing where when you want to look at a person but not be rude you look into the bus window at their reflection. So I was looking at this man's reflection in the window and trying to figure out why I was reacting in this way. I did not figure it out. I also thought that maybe "the older a man is, the weirder he looks if he wears a t-shirt". Then I thought of this man who I see in the mornings whilst walking to work, who wears yellow shorts and t-shirts. He would be about 60 I reckon and he does not look weird. I am going to start noticing what middle-aged men wear more from now on. Maybe middle-aged mens spouses have a lot to do with their out of work attire, most probably. I think that without wives dragging their husbands into going clothes shopping then it might be more of a common thing to see a middle-aged man in a tee-shirt out in public.
Bouncer-tee. Badass displays of gut -wrenching masculinity.
Middle-aged man at home Surely though at home is a different story for the middle-aged man? When I get home, one of the first things I do is change into my comfortable nike track pants (or second skins as I have affectionately come to call them), a comfy tee and kick off the shoes. When you get older you should not lose this comfort and so an older man at home in a t-shirt is acceptable.
Occasions where it is acceptable for a middle-aged man to wear a t-shirt would be:
On Vacation
Exercising/at the gym
At home
Playing sport
At the beach
Richard Dawkins - Great scientist, great example of vacation tee.
I find myself thinking more often now, at the age of 25 that I should gradually fade out my wearing of t-shirts and start wearing more shirts and polos for work and out of the house occasions. I have noticed that as a man, when I wear polo shirts or dress shirts then people - especially females - treat me well, I get glances where there would not usually be glances and service seems that little bit more respectful.
Before I know it I will be a middle-aged man and will know first hand "the rules" if there even are any to begin with. Sara says I make up and have all these "rules" about things which don't matter, maybe so, maybe so. Maybe no one else finds middle-aged men in t-shirts off putting and I am reading into it too much. I would love to hear from any 40-60 year olds about how they feel about wearing t-shirts out in public. Do you feel any pressure to don a shirt or polo when you would much rather be comfortable out in a tee? I also hope this did not come off as mean or ageist, that was not my intention. My intention was to explore my own curious reaction to this middle-aged man who I saw on the bus tonight wearing a loose fitting white t-shirt.
Oh, oh, another thing I have noticed quite a bit which relates to public transport is that "hot women" or often "women who think they're hot" will usually choose seats that face the opposite way to where the bus/train/tram is heading, so that they are facing the passengers. I absolutely HATE facing the opposite way (facing the passengers) on a bus or tram so I tend to notice people who by choice choose those seats. Please take notice of this next time you are on public transport and see if you find this also. Once again, there is probably nothing too this but speculation.
I get a kick out of thinking up things like this, finding connections, making predictions, theories (in layman's terms of the word) and then testing them for validity when I get the chance. This is what I am about and do all day long. Thinking a lot like this in life makes it easier to predict what the outcome will be in various situations because of the mass amount of connections, predictions and testing which have been built up over the years. This is how I think and this interconnected, built up model of reality can be summed up well in a quote that I LOVE and put on my facebook "favourite quotes" bit which is, "Information and observations are logical pieces in a bigger jigsaw".
I just came across this youtube video (below) of a korean drummer stealing the show, it made me wet myself so thought I would post it and a few other youtube videos I have been enjoying lately.
"My View" Question: Should the Adelaide Festival be an annual event?
Click to enlarge
So yesterday I was in Rundle mall sitting down waiting for Sara when a journalist and a photographer came up to me and asked if they could take a few minutes of my time and ask me some survey questions. Sure, why not I said.
Here is how the conversation went.
Journalist: "Hi, how are you going?".
Me: "Pretty good thanks".
Journalist: "I was wondering if you could spare a few minutes to answer a few survey questions".
Me: "Yeah sure, go for it".
Journalist: "Okay, so do you think the Adelaide festival should be a yearly thing?".
Me: "Yeah". (I was thinking but did not get time to say, because that would bring more artists/comedians/shows to Adelaide giving me more choice in Entertainment).
Journalist: "Alright cool and just one more question, do you think that having it every year would make it less special?".
Me: "Yeah, it would".
Journalist: "So if I could just get your name, age and suburb".
Me: "Yep, my name is Nathan...." *I pause as he writes my first name* "Kowald...", I say ending in a high note as if I was unsure. *This meets the usual puzzled expression requiring the letter by letter spell out*. "So that's, K O W A L D", I say.
Journalist:*writes down K O W A L V*
Me: "Oops sorry, no, D, K O W A L Deee not V".
Journalist:*makes the changes*
Me: "My ages is.." *I pause to think about it* "25", I say hesitantly while I confirm in my head that yes I am actually 25. "And my suburb is Goodwood".
Journalist: "Oh, I just live around the corner in ________" (a suburb I forget).
Me: "Oh cool", I reply. *did not know how to respond*
Journalist: "Okay, that was easy wasn't it. Now just the last bit we will take a photo of you".
Me: "Yep".
Photographer:*takes 2 shots* then says, "A nice big smile like before". *Like before? I think.*
Me:*Smiles*
Photographer:*takes 3rd and final shot then shows me the photo he took in his camera's view finder*.
Me: I nod at the picture of myself and give an obligatory, "Yep, nice".
Journalist: "Thanks a lot, this will be in tomorrows paper".
Me: "Cool, thanks for that".
Journalist: "Thanks, enjoy the rest of your weekend".
Me: "Thanks, you too".
So as you can see, what made the paper was not a direct quote. But then again, you need to add words when the responses to your questions are just yeah and yep. Also, I would never use the expression, "It would probably take the shine away from it". My general view however was portrayed. The journalist was youngish, well dressed, cool and easy to talk to.
